I’ve been really trying to make the most of structured training this year over the winter months.
I have been quite disciplined with my riding and getting a lot of endurance and tempo in where I can.
I’ve been doing some tempo/ss rides recently and only just looking into 'decoupling '. If I’ve done this right I have -1% decoupling over 90min ride.
In order for me to keep building my aerobic fitness, is it sufficient to carry on in the same way (working z2/tempo/SS)? Note, that for this effort in particular 67% of time was spent at z1 HR, with the remainder in z2.
I’ve done a lot of reading, im wondering if now I would be better off riding my long endurance rides (3h+) by z2 HR rather than power?
I have been looking at this recently too, and believe that to maximise aerobic gains you should set out to find your aerobic threshold (like anaerobic threshold you can define by HR and Power) and do your LSD activities at that effort.
I found this article interesting and helpful for more background and how to determine aerobic threshold. https://www.uphillathlete.com/heart-rate-drift/
The way I do it is to cap my heart rate at the top of Z2 (for me, about 158bpm) and ride as consistent a power as possible for 40 mins to 1 hour after a warm up, without letting my heartrate go above this value.
Of course you have to consider the variables that can influence HR (fatigue, stress, temperature, hydration) but this should give you a ballpark figure for your LT1 power (Aerobic threshold) and also give you an idea of how fatigue resistant it is, based on your decoupling %.
Then I will train structured sessions around this LT1 value (e.g. on the turbo), and unstructured sessions with LT1 as a cap (e.g. long outdoor rides).
I think you can better go low in Z2 for more hours, like 3-4hours. Ride with max 15% in Z1.
Low in the zone give you the most benefit with the least fatique. The same for tempo.
Zones are not a lightswitch, so high Z2 is low tempo. With HR 158 (for you high Z2) you go to hard in Z2. My top Z2 HR is also 158 and Aerobic treshold 205w.
For example: I ride 3-5 hours at hr 145-150 and around 170w. I do tempo on 215w and HR 165-170.
I think you misunderstand me - that is a test to determine your LT1 threshold and fatigue resistence. Training around this value with structured indoor training is powerful, but outdoor or LSD I would be well below this.
This approach has pushed my LT1 up considerably - around 260w with no decoupling for 90 mins, with a 310w ftp
For structured indoor i train more in tempo and nearby race season SST. Z2 is more for outside long rides. Under your LT1 give you the most benefit with at least fatique instead of training on spot LT1
there are some things to consider when prescribing based on LT1. The consequences of a training session at LT1 can be very different as the rider gets stronger. If an athlete has an LT1 of over 320w, the cost of riding at that power for hours is much higher than the 240 LT1 rider.
While both riders may be in the defined zone of producing a constant ~2.0mmol of lactate, the stresses can be different. You won’t see 420w FTP riders who I would presume to have an LT1 in the 340-360 range rolling around at that on a regular basis as you mentioned your outdoor rides to be much below.
Sure, this is true, due the amount of KJ Work done and therefore fuelling requirements and torque loads. Just shows how many variables there are to consider!
